Unforeseen
by MarauderWitch
Summary: What if Remus Lupin had a middle aged Kneazle? What if Tonks had an excited puppy Crup? Would that bring them together or set them apart? What will that cat-like creature do when her human can't seem to stop repeating one sound: Tonks, Tonks, Tonks? This a one-shot at their story through the eyes of a magical pet. Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition.


**A/N:** Hello, guys! This one goes for a great friend of mine. Anja, I hope you like it! ^^ Happy birthday, darling!

Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Finals Round 1

Word count before A/N: 2,998.

Magical creature: Kneazle.

* * *

**Unforeseen**

You had no idea. How could you? No idea that when you saw that young man tired and covered in blood coming from the grove that your life would change forever. At least he smelled like a young man, but he looked older. He crouched badly mimicking what you assumed to be a meow. He looked so drained that despite being ten times your size, you could still beat him. So you approached. He patted your head, scratched behind your ear and speckled fur. It was not the usual behaviour for humans because you remember very well when a couple of small ones laughed whilst pointing at yours and your siblings' ears, they seemed to find them funny, but you had a mother and she sent them away with a hiss. Then he stood up, or tried to, being so worn out, he had to grab a tree not to fall. Slowly he made his way to a tiny cottage not too far from there, but it seemed that he did not have a good sense of direction since he kept walking in circles, he seemed lost. But you followed, unsure of why you did it.

Finally there, he smiled faintly before getting a bowl, filling it with water and putting it down for you. You didn't know how he knew, but it had been a couple of days since you had a swig of water and you drank it all. By the time you finished, he had disappeared deeper in that house. You glanced at the open window before following him. He had let himself fall upon something rather fluffy, his eyes were closed and he was making weird noises as he breathed. Your first instinct was to leave for any predator could find you with that loud noise. But you didn't. You just watched him as he lay there for quite a long time. You went out for a bit, chased a rat and came back, but the human was still there. The sun had almost gone down when he finally left the fluffy place.

'You still here, little one?' he said having spotted you near the door; you chirred in response.

He washed the blood away, put some colourful water over his body and went to a smaller fluffy place before using some sort of white leaves to cover the places where the blood was coming from. He put something on a plate and then some of it on a smaller bowl, which he put on the floor.

'There, you must be hungry.'

You walked over and smelled it, but it didn't smell normal, you thought it was poisoned; maybe that human was just like the other ones. You looked at him as he started to eat whatever that was, so maybe it wasn't poisoned. Taking a bite, you perceived that the whole flavour was weird and not just the smell. That wasn't for you. It was best to put something with a decent taste in to cover up that horrid flavour. So you were out the window again, hunting an unadvised bird that didn't hide when the sun did. Easy prey. You came back with it and his smile was strong for once.

'You prefer things fresh, don't you?' He put another bit of that strange food in his mouth as you began taking the feathers away. 'Sometimes so do I.'

His look was unlike anything you had ever seen. He understood. He was no ordinary human. He walked towards the bowl and collected it.

'I'm sorry, I can't afford to throw this away.' And he stowed the weird food.

He looked like any other human, but you couldn't help but noticing that he smelled a bit different. So you decided to stay to watch him for a while. He would disappear sometimes, all day long, but came back before the sun was gone. He always spared a minute to fill the water bowl for you and you were grateful. No human had done that for you before. Slowly his smell was becoming different, more doggy-like, but oddly enough it didn't shove you away, you liked because he started to eat fresh meat, until one day he didn't leave. He stayed in the fluffy place for longer and only got up when the sun was nearly hidden. He went out of the cottage. An uncommon behaviour, so you followed.

He entered the grove and you went after him up on the branches. Then he stopped and without any warning he started to scream. There were no predators around. Weird. You hadn't seen it before. You watched as he began scratching himself and you realised where the blood had come from when you first met him. Soon he was looking like a big dog. Everything made sense then, the reason he smelled like a dog. He didn't spare a glance at you. He just ran away, as fast as he could undoubtedly afraid. Ha! A human that gave you water and a dog scared of you. That was when you decided that you definitely liked him.

The sun came and he was again the young man you first met. You walked over to him and purred, rubbing your forehead on his legs. He scratched your ears like he had begun doing so often and that faint smile was back. You guided him home that morning, you didn't think he should be walking around as he was so tired. One more time he let himself fall on the fluffy place, but you didn't feel like eating, so you just lay beside him, sleeping all day long. He woke up once more when the moon was nearly up, but you already knew his behaviour then. You ran to the place he had washed the blood the other time, then the place where he kept the colourful waters and the fluffy place where he put the weird white leaves on his chest.

'My mother used to help me with the bandages every morning after a full moon,' he said, still patting you. 'You remind me of her. But she's gone. I had a dog, a stag and a rat that used to be with me, but they're gone too. Everyone's gone. Everyone in my life leaves. They say if you don't give names it's easier when they're gone, but I already like you. I don't really have a choice. You've seen me that way and you're still here, so ... I think I'm rather safe. I should call you Hoppy because of her.'

After that he was always saying Hoppy. After a while you realised it was the sound he had given you. And you liked. A lot. Slowly you and he had a routine. Every time the moon turned, you would follow him into the grove and then guide him back home when the sun came up.

Lots of moons had turned when he took you out of the cottage and into the biggest castle you had ever seen. There was a big forest nearby where you hunted your preys, sometimes you saw a big black dog with an orange cat, but he was just a cat, not a Kneazle like you. There were thousands of small humans, some were friendly, but some were not, including a human with black fur on his head and a big weird snout. You could never stop yourself from hissing whenever he came closer. You met several weird creatures, some you had never seen, Red Caps, Grindylows, Kappas. You lived there for ten moons and you had never seen the human so happy. He didn't seem so tired after a full moon, he also wasn't afraid of you anymore, but he wouldn't chase you like every other dog you've met, so you decided he was still better than all the others.

One day the moon turned and he had gone to the forest, running from you again, afraid again. Good. The next day, he left the castle and was back at living in a cottage, but a different one. After that he was always saying Sirius. You wondered if he had changed your sound, but he was still saying Hoppy. He wouldn't leave during the day anymore. Several moons turned until he began to leave all day long again, but he would always come back and talk. He talked about Sirius even more. And one day, he left, but you were with him. You lived in a big house. You met the orange cat you used to see near the castle, you learnt that his sound was Crookshanks and you were glad your human had a better taste for sounds. There was a Hippogriff at the highest place, but you soon learnt not to get too close. You also met a dog-human, the one whose sound was Sirius, but he didn't need a round moon to become a dog, and that was weird.

You met several humans and quite a few owls. There were lots of humans with orange fur on their heads, some you even recalled seeing at the castle. And there was the weirdest of humans. A female that seemed to always be around your human, she had a pink fur and when she first saw you, she smiled and came pet you. You couldn't bring yourself to hiss at her, but she seemed a bit too excited. The sound they had given her was Tonks, but sometimes you saw other humans calling her by a different sound, a big one she didn't seem to like and you couldn't blame her.

'I'm sorry, she's a bit tired,' your human said one day when you refused to follow a ball of wool.

'I know someone who'll love to meet you, did you know?' said the pink human, changing her human snout to a Kneazle's. She didn't need a moon nor to change her whole body. Yes, definitely weird.

The next day you were not pleased, not amused in the slightest. She had brought a Crup. The puppy was trying to get to you, but luckily he was still small and could not reach the fluffy place you were on. They laughed and the pink human put the puppy on the fluffy place with you. You growled and went onto a higher place. But he just wouldn't give up. Eventually, you got tired of his cries and jumped onto the floor. Hitting him two, three, four times in a row, just to prove that you were better than him. But he didn't seem sad. He seemed ... glad that you had chosen him as his target. Before you could get him a fifth time, the pink human got him and left.

You were not sad. No. Of course not. That night your human kept talking about Tonks and you were just disappointed that you hadn't learnt the Crup's sound. A few days later she appeared and brought the Crup again. And you found yourself wanting to chase him just to see if he would behave the same way. He did. He would never back down and you were not a kitten anymore so you let him get you once just to see what he would do. You had never seen a happier creature. He let a pool of dribble all over the floor.

'Come on, Mauler, give Hoppy a rest,' the pink human said taking the Crup and going out the door, 'we'll come back another day.'

Okay, maybe you were a bit sad when he left and all you had was his smell to remember him by. But you had your human and his incessant talk about Tonks that he seemed to save just for you. You didn't mind. The pink human came back the following day, but she didn't bring the Crup, she just got your human and left. And that became a habit of them it seemed, but every now and then she still brought Mauler, yes, one day you learnt the sound humans had for him. You were getting sadder and sadder every time Mauler left, but your human was certainly sadder than you whenever the pink human walked out the door. Everything seemed somehow happier in those days. You never thought you would befriend a Crup, but you could not count the suns until he was back. You liked how things were going. You liked it a lot.

And then, one day, all the humans suddenly left the house, including your human. You were left alone. You walked around the house, hoping your human would return soon.

It wasn't until three days later that he returned. You were worried and greeted him with a chirr; he had never spent so much time away. He seemed sick, but the round moon wasn't near. He patted you and apologised for being away before starting to open doors and get things. After a while, the pink human arrived. You felt happier because she always made your human smile, but it seemed that not on that day, she didn't. They talked endlessly about Sirius, but then his sound was gone and you started hearing Remus and Tonks all the while. Their sounds got louder, angrier and you didn't like it. Not one bit. So you fled, took cover downstairs under one of the many fluffy places wishing your human was happy again, wishing Mauler was around for you to chase or let him chase you. Eventually they stopped making sounds and the pink human went out the door. Your human called you softly and you went after him.

'What did I tell you, Hoppy? Everyone leaves.'

You stayed there for one last night and for the first time you noticed some water coming from your human's eyes. On the following day, you found yourself at yet another different cottage, but there were always a place for your water bowl and somewhere on the fluffy place where you could lie and sleep.

It seemed that he would never stop being sick. He started disappearing for several days then; the moons came and just make him look worse. You were almost forgetting how your human looked when he smiled. Your purrs were no longer enough, so you lied beside him on a fluffy place, wishing you could make him happier, wishing you were enough to bring more than that faint smile. The pink human came by once, right after a round moon, though her fur was not exactly pink, it was brown, but she still smelled the same. She put the colourful waters and the white leaves on him, he felt better, but soon they were making loud noises again. You wished she had brought Mauler with her; maybe it would have been happier before she stormed out the door once more.

That seemed to be the new routine: he disappeared for several days, came home looking even sicker than before and she would stop by, she would help him and they would be soon making loud noises until she stormed out the door with water coming down her eyes. You wished she was the pink human again, making him laugh instead of making that water come out of his eyes. Twelve moons passed, you were wondering how much more of it he could endure.

Until one day, you had not a single clue of what happened, but that day he came back with the pink human. Yes, her fur was pink again. They kept pressing their snouts together, you had always heard that humans had weird mating rituals and that seemed to be just it, no other creature did that. She laughed, patted you and morphed her snout to look like a Kneazle's again. Too excited. But you bore it quietly because you could see that your human was once again happy as he used to be. They went to the fluffy place, but before you could follow, the door was closed. Weird. He had never done it before, but eventually they opened it again. She brought Mauler the next day and having smelled him before, you hid and hit him with your paw before he could even see you there. He was thrilled. The chase went on for hours and you felt your human's happiness irradiating.

Soon you left the cottage with him, making a new home at a high house with other houses underneath. Humans and their weird habits. There were sad days, but the loud noises did not last long and you were surprised because living with Mauler was easier than you thought. Some moons had passed when he suddenly got you and left. For three suns food was scarce and there was always another human nearby. Until you were back at the dark house and recognised humans that lived there. Loud noises again, out again.

He went to another place, one you haven't been before. He seemed angry and lost and you knew what you had to do: take him home. So you were out the door, he followed you until you got to the high house. The pink human opened and he got down to his knees right there and there was more water in their eyes. They talked again and before long the room's door was closed again. It seemed that you no longer were the most important being in his life, but it didn't matter. There was Mauler and the pink human always getting bigger. You weren't sure how, but you knew that from that day onwards, your human would be the happiest he had ever been with no more sad days ahead of him.


End file.
